1827 - 1921

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• Birth	8 Dec 1827	Plainfield, Otsego Co., New York
  Gender	Male
  Died	9 Nov 1921	Milton, Rock Co., Wisconsin
  Buried	12 Nov 1921	Milton, Rock Co., Wisconsin
  Person ID	I84555	Brainard (Brainerd) / Foster / Fish
  Last Modified	14 Oct 2005 00:00:00
  Father	Alvit CLARKE, b. 11 Jan 1804, Brookfield, Madison Co., New York
  Mother	Sarah "Sally" DAVIS, b. 10 Aug 1801, New York
  Family ID	F36904	Group Sheet
  Married	13 Oct 1852	Plainfield, Otsego Co., New York
  Family ID	F36903	Group Sheet
  Family 2	Harriet SAUNDERS, b. 13 Sep 1832, Plainfield,Otsego Co.,New York
  Married	13 Oct 1852	Plainfield,Otsego Co.,New York
  Children	> 1. Irving Benton CLARKE, b. 4 Nov 1855, Leonardsville,Madison Co.,New York > 2. Judson Dwight CLARKE, b. 21 Sep 1867, Milton,Rock Co.,Wisconsin   3. Ann Cora CLARKE, b. 1869, Milton,Rock Co.,Wisconsin
  Family ID	F47537	Group Sheet

• Notes

  Levi Bond farm age 52 in the village at home Milton Cemetery 1NOTE "Sabbath Recorder", Vol 91, No 25, p 777,778, 19 Dec 1921. Sherrill Joseph Clarke was the eldest child born to Alvit andSarah Davis Clarke. He was bornin Plainview, Otsego Co., N.Y., December 8, 1827. At nine-thirty on Wednesdaymorning,November 9, 1921, while sitting in his easy chair, suddenly andquietlyhe slipped away into his eternal rest, just as a ripenedleaf releases its holdupon the parent stem and silentlyflutters to its place among those who have fallen. His goingwas "a beautiful taking off". He is survived by two sons, Irving Benton of Milton Junction,Judson Dwight, of Milton, and a daughter, Ann Coraof Milton;five grandchildren, Mrs. Alice Crandall, of Los Angeles, Cal.;HowardI. Clarke, of Arlington, Cal.; Roy C. Clarke, ofMinneapolis; Harlow and Walton, of Milton; eight greatgrandchildren, and by two brothers, Wellington, of Milton, andHenry, of Waterloo, Iowa. Sherrill because he was the eldest of the family of tenchildren, had to take a big share in the support of the largefamily.Wages were low, products were cheap and the maintenanceof the home required the closest economy and the utmost unitedefforts of the able-bodied members of the household. Sherrillhad an aptitude for mechanics and found employment in shops andsometimes in the old-fashioned upright sawmills. Often herolled logs into the sluice and tended the saws until long intothe night while "the head of the water was on". Because he wasso employed and his help was so much needed athome, hisschooling was limited to a few terms in the district schools.Before hecame west he was employed in the woodworking shops ofJohn Babcock, of Leonardsville, N. Y. 'Twas here, as he used torelate, that he built one thousand and fifty of the revolvingwooden horse rakes which were in great demand by the farmers inthat vicinity. On October 13, 1852, Sherrill was married to Miss HarrietSaunders, the eldest daughter of Spicer Saunders, of PlainfieldCenter, N. Y. This devoted couple began their homemaking inLeonardsville where they lived fouryears. In 1856 they came toWisconsin and established a home south-east of Milton on a farmpurchased by Deacon Levi Bond, a part of which is now owned byJamesBennett. Ten years later they built a home on the farmnow owned by their sonDwight. In 1904 they moved to thevillage of Milton to the home in which each of them died. Formore than sixty-four years they lived together, interested inevery progressive helpful cause, devoted to each other, theirfamily, to religious and spiritual objects. Mrs. Clarke diedJanuary 23, 1917. Brother Clarke early expressed his determination to live aChristian life. It was during the pastorate of Elder William B.Maxson that he publically professed Christ and became amemberof the First Brookfield Seventh Day Baptist Church atLeonardsville. Hebrought his letter of membership with himwhen he came to Milton and entered into the activities of thechurch. Full heartedly and conscientiously he has, in thisrelationship, honored his God, his Christian profession, and thechurch to which he was earnestly devoted. In his youth he was passionately fond of music and was a singerof no mean ability. While he was living in central New York hebecame one of a male quartet who styled themselves the "New YorkHarmonians". They were in especial demand for temperancerallies and campaigns. Mr. Clarke waschoirister of the Miltonchurch for twenty-five years and helped establish andmaintain ahigh standard of church music. Politically, for the greater part ofhis life, he was a staunchsupporter of the temperance movement and an ardentuncompromising third-party prohibitionist. He early signed thepledge of the "Washingtonian Movement". "He came to believethat the saloon was a public curse; that to license a publicevil by taking money is a weak and nonsensical way to decreasecrime and misery and to elevate morally the